For the Union Dead (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert Lowell
- First Published: 1960
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry
- Subjects: African Americans
The Poem
The ironies of Robert Lowell’s “For the Union Dead” begin with its title. “Union” and “dead” are each adjective and noun. The obvious reference is to the dead of the Union forces in the American Civil War; in a sense, however, the very concept of union is dead in the poem, which depicts a society fragmented by the results of its devotion to the machine and divided by persisting racism.
“For the Union Dead” begins as a very local and topical poem in its evocation of a series of scenes in Boston about the year 1960, with a focus on the...
[The entire page is 1687 words long]
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